Saturday, February 9, 2013

Every once in a while a local band surprises, and This Hisses would be my latest pleasant Winnipeg-bred surprise. Rockin' surfer guitar turns art-damaged and then metallic, drums laying back in a soft shuffle one minute then jumping up and playing standing up the next, garage blues voice launches itself into dramatic gothic vocals and flips upward into operatic soaring. The band's second album, Anhedonia, came out a few days ago, and their release party is tonight at the West End Cultural Centre with Pop Crimes And Slow Dancer.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Whitehorse is playing my town tonight. Even if you can't make it like me, you can still revel in their fine tunes. Quite a while back I tried to convince music lovers like you to help make Luke Doucet a household name, and now I think he is doing it with his wife Melissa McClelland in their duo called Whitehorse. Their newest album, the Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss, was recently released in the States, and the duo's newest EP, The Road to Massey Hall, can be bought at the shows and will be available on iTunes on Febuary 15. The Road to Massey Hall will include covers of some icons, you can stream the EP here and watch Strawberry Blonde here:

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Two Hours Traffic’s full length album, Foolish Blood – available everywhere February 19th! If the band is not hitting your town, you may not live in one. Also, most shows will be opened by Rah Rah, who sound pretty promising too.

When RATM's first album came out, I ran the other way. Rap-rock? I thought it was a terrible idea, and Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock and a bunch of other faceless bands proved me right not too long afterwards.

But my dismissal of RATM was criminal. The band wasn't just pasting raps over brutally simple riffs, it was creating something new from the ashes of the old. And the seemingly juvenile lyrical aggression was neither mindless nor teen pandering, though I forgive myself for jumping to conclusions about "Fuck You I won't do what you tell me." Also, I still have misgivings about the album cover, which seemed so sensationalistic to me and fed into Beavis and Butt-head fantasies: "Fire!" "Cool!"

Anyway, if it wasn't Public Enemy and it was rap-related, I probably wasn't listening, so I remained blissfully unaware of RATM's being so much more than an amazingly noisy and brash freakshow. But I heard them cover Springsteen, and hey, it was good! I ended up with a copy of The Battle of Los Angeles, and I started to get it. Then I saw the track listing for Renegades and scoped not just covers of Eric B and Rakim, Cypress Hill, and Afrika Bambaataa, but also Minor Threat, The Stooges, and Devo. Aha. I finally understand.

So when I got a copy of the reissued debut album, I wasn't one of those people who knew and loved every tune. My ears were fresh. As I thought about the bandmembers minus Zach de la Rocha forming Audioslave with Chris Cornell, it occurred to me that Chuck D could have done some things that would have been a lot more interesting to me. Then I open up the package to see that Chuck D has written an expansive little essay on RATM. Wow! Synchronicity!

The album itself? Chalk one up for my missing column with this disc, 'cause I clearly burned myself out of years of enjoyment. Granted, with improvements in technology it probably sounds even better, but that's besides the point. Rhythmically, RATM was a monster, like Jesus Lizard or Sons of Freedom, where the musical force of the combined parts was unstoppable. I defy anyone not to feel that whomp in the gut that every song delivers, hypnotic and visceral. I think the sounds changed the world's air when it was released on an unsuspecting public. Although de la Rocha may never be my favourite vocalist, he's certainly one of the most powerful, punk rock as much as rap figuring into his full throttle atack-the-mic style. Tom Morello excelled at not only monstrous riffs and blistering solos, but making some beautiful noises that sounded utterly unlike it could have come from a guitar.

If you're like me and didn't pay attention the first time, check it out. Powerful stuff.

Note: for some reason the official RATM XX site of the band and the reissue seems to be down right now, so I can't link to it for you. At any rate, you can get the album any old place, it shouldn't be hard to find.

My Bloody Valentine last released music in 1991 with the fantastic Loveless. About 22 years later, the next record is finally here, which seems to be called mbv. Went on sale last night from the band's website, immediately broke the internet, looks like it's up and running again today. It sounds just like you'd expect it to sound, still hazy, fuzzy, otherworldly, and superfine! Like The Pixies, absence has only made the band more popular, so expect this hype to continue.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

"Rock and Roll is an old man’s game now, so I’m staying in it.” That recent quote from Robyn Hitchcock is so good, I don't know what to say about it.

Robyn Hitchcock is celebrating his 60th birthday with a new album, Love From London (out March 5), which is how I hope I can celebrate my 60th. With another new Hitchcock record, that is. According to those in the know, he will also be performing at a "retrospective show on February 28th at the Village Underground in London where he will be playing songs from each of his albums, accompanied by some of his favorite British musicians". Uh, each of his albums? I assume that doesn't include box sets, compilations or live albums, or everyone will have to take pep pills -the guy has released a boatload of records.

Here's a song entitled Be Still from the new record:
Love From London TRACK LISTING:
1. Harry's Song
2. Be Still
3. Stupefied
4. I Love You
5. Devil On A String
6. Strawberries Dress
7. Death And Love
8. Fix You
9. My Rain
10. End Of Time

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mp3s will be posted for a limited time and are for promotional purposes only. If you like it, buy the albums, go to the shows, buy the t-shirts - support the artist so they can keep on keepin' on. Artists - if you would like an mp3 or video removed, please contact me directly at chrisyakchart@hotmail.com.